Conventional refrigeration appliances, such as domestic refrigerators, typically have both a fresh food compartment and a freezer compartment or section. The fresh food compartment is where food items such as fruits, vegetables, and beverages are stored and the freezer compartment is where food items that are to be kept in a frozen condition are stored. The refrigerators are provided with a refrigeration system that maintains the fresh food compartment at temperatures above 0° C. and the freezer compartments at temperatures below 0° C.
The arrangements of the fresh food and freezer compartments with respect to one another in such refrigerators vary. For example, in some cases, the freezer compartment is located above the fresh food compartment and in other cases the freezer compartment is located below the fresh food compartment. Additionally, many modern refrigerators have their freezer compartments and fresh food compartments arranged in a side-by-side relationship. Whatever arrangement of the freezer compartment and the fresh food compartment is employed, typically, separate access doors are provided for the compartments so that either compartment may be accessed without exposing the other compartment to the ambient air.
Such conventional refrigerators are often provided with a unit for making ice pieces, commonly referred to as “ice cubes” despite the non-cubical shape of many such ice pieces. These ice making units normally are located in the freezer compartments of the refrigerators and manufacture ice by convection, i.e., by circulating cold air over water in an ice tray to freeze the water into ice cubes. Storage bins for storing the frozen ice pieces are also often provided adjacent to the ice making units. The ice pieces can be dispensed from the storage bins through a dispensing port in the door that closes the freezer to the ambient air. The dispensing of the ice usually occurs by means of an ice delivery mechanism that extends between the storage bin and the dispensing port in the freezer compartment door.
However, for refrigerators such as the so-called “bottom mount” refrigerator, which includes a freezer compartment disposed vertically beneath a fresh food compartment, placing the ice maker within the freezer compartment is impractical. Users would be required to retrieve frozen ice pieces from a location close to the floor on which the refrigerator is resting. And providing an ice dispenser located at a convenient height, such as on an access door to the fresh food compartment, would require an elaborate conveyor system to transport frozen ice pieces from the freezer compartment to the dispenser on the access door to the fresh food compartment. Thus, ice makers are commonly included in the fresh food compartment of bottom mount refrigerators, which creates many challenges in making and storing ice within a compartment that is typically maintained above the freezing temperature of water.
One particular problem arises in circulating cooling air from an evaporator in the ice maker compartment to the ice tray wherein the ice cubes are formed. Over time, relatively warmer moisture in the ice maker collects on the relatively colder evaporator and on components downstream of the evaporator and freezes. The ice maker is designed to periodically perform a defrost cycle to melt the ice and/or frost and conduct the water away from the evaporator. In some instances, high humidity in the surrounding environment may cause excessive amounts of ice to build up on the evaporator and, in some instances, on the fan used to convey the cooling air through the ice maker. When ice builds up on the fan, the fan becomes unbalanced and/or inoperable and the ice maker ceases to make ice cubes. At this time, the problem cannot be remedied by a normal defrost cycle. Instead, a service person must manually clean away the ice build-up. As can be appreciated, this results in downtime, inconvenience and cost to the user and/or the manufacturer.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a refrigerator including an ice maker disposed within a fresh food compartment of the refrigerator in which the accumulation of ice/frost on the fan of the ice maker can be prevented, or at least minimized.
There is also a need in the art for a handle-operated door lock, and/or an apparatus for determining the height of ice pieces in an ice bin of the ice maker.